Invincible
by iceprincessinfinity
Summary: Arthur always thought he was invincible. But Merlin proves to him that he isn't, in more ways than one. Better than it sounds, really. Arthur/Merlin.
1. Prologue Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Merlin, unfortunately…

**Author's Note: **Welcome all to my first Merlin fanfic! I promised myself that I wouldn't follow the absurd Arthur/Merlin pairing, but…here I am. *sigh* oh well. At least it's better than I originally thought :) Anyway, news for all of you – the US is getting cheated out of Episode 12! They are not planning on airing it here…at least not this season. I'm trying to find it online, but until then, don't give anything away (except a URL of where to find it, of course!).

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Prologue

"Arthur is your destiny…your destiny…destiny…" the dragon's voice echoed in Merlin's head. He awoke with a start and covered his ears.

"No!" he shouted silently. "Arthur is not my destiny! He can't be!" but he heard no reply.

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Chapter 1

Merlin was awakened by a loud crash outside his room. He groaned and pulled his pillow over his head. "Not yet…" he groaned. "It's too early for trouble to have started already…"

"Merlin!" His good friend and mentor, Gaius, called him. Gaius came into his room and smiled tolerantly at the young sorcerer. "Prince Arthur requires your services…I think it would be a wise idea to get up. You know how he can be."

_All too well, _thought Merlin, but he smiled a quick thank you at his friend and went to see what Arthur needed.

*~|~*

When he went to Arthur's room, he found him contemplating the field outside his window. "I thought you were going to sleep all day," Arthur said in a bored tone of voice.

"That's not really an option around here" Merlin replied, feeling a little annoyed at the Prince.

Arthur's only reaction was to smile. Sometimes he found the things Merlin said to be quite amusing. But he didn't really want to let Merlin know that. "I'm glad to see that we understand each other," he said finally, looking at his servant and friend. "So now that you're here, I've decided to draw up a list for you…"

*~|~*

Merlin looked at the list Arthur gave him in disgust. How could he possibly do all of those chores in the hour before the tournament today? _Or, _he thought with a smile, _I could just use magic to do them again._

He knew that Gaius would disapprove – if he ever found out, that is. Merlin poked his head out the door and looked around. The coast was clear – for now. And now, he had plenty of time to get himself ready for the tournament, and not just the Prince.

For some time now, Merlin had been looking for a way to put Arthur in his place. The man was way too sure of himself in a battle. He tortured the poor innocent young men who wished to play at being knights, and he was an absolute terror on the field. It may have been a good thing that the crown prince was such a good fighter, seeing how it had saved his life several times, but did he have to brag about it so much?

And so Merlin had thought of a plan. If someone could be powerful enough to beat Arthur – not really hurt him, just win the tournament – maybe Arthur wouldn't be such a prat. But there was a small problem with that plan. First of all…who could beat the best fighter in Camelot? And second…even if he could find someone, why would they listen to a servant? So the only solution was for Merlin himself to try and beat Arthur.

For months and months he had been training in the dead of night, learning how to properly use a sword and shield and how to handle wearing chain mail. A few weeks ago, he had finally decided he had gotten good enough to enter the tournament. "Sir Emrys" was a new knight of the realm of Camelot, originally from a land to the South. He dared not reveal too much of his fighting ability, in case it turned out to not be so good. But he always had magic to fall back on – which, he reminded himself, could only be used in case of emergency.

Startled out of his thoughts, he checked the time. Thinking had wasted half an hour…it was time to get ready for the tournament.

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**Author's Note: **I feel like that moved a little quick. But I had no story ideas, and then this idea intruded on my thoughts. Without it, there would have been no chapter one so…sorry if it just seems stuck in there. I'll try to make it smooth sailing from now on. Also, this is a pretty short chapter. That's the way I write, though...with short chapters. Anyway, the next chapter should be up soon...although it will be up sooner if you review :)


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing (unfortunately).

**Author's Note: **I know how unrealistic it is for Merlin to be a fantastic fighter. I really do. But I'm not going to spend 10 chapters explaining how he is terrible at fighting and is trying to get good at it. So, he's just going to be an amazing fighter – I did say somewhere already that he had been training for a while, right? So we'll pretend that while was over a year. I think I could handle a sword well in a year of practice. *shrug*

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Chapter 2

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Arthur glared at the young man clumsily helping him with his armor.

"I don't think so, no," Merlin told him, checking to make sure the Prince had all of his weapons and armor on correctly.

"How about wishing me luck?" Arthur crossed his arms and glared at Merlin, as if to say how disappointed he was in Merlin's lack of speech on that particular subject.

"Oh!" Merlin looked up and smiled. "Good luck!"

Arthur stared at him for a minute before replying. "Thanks" he said shortly, before striding off towards the field.

It had taken Merlin less time than he thought to run around to his secret hiding place in the stables and grab all of his weapons and armor – of course, he had been running pretty fast. Putting them on, however, was nearly impossible by yourself – and so anyone unfortunate enough to glance into that stable would be treated to the sight of flying bits of armor, all heading towards Merlin. Luckily for the young wizard, no one was at the stables at that time – not even the grooms or the guards. They were all busy watching the tournament.

_The tournament!_ Merlin stumbled towards the field at a dead run. "Last call for Sir Emrys!" one of the guards in charge of the tournament bellowed.

"I'm here!" called Merlin, trying to make his voice sound a little deeper. He didn't want to risk anyone finding out it was him just by his voice. How embarrassing would that be?

"You almost missed it" the guard glared at him, then smiled. "Good luck in the tournament, Sir Emrys. You'll need it. Our Prince Arthur is a tough one to beat."

_I know, _thought Merlin. _Why do you think I'm here?_ But he just smiled and thanked the guards before waiting for the first round of the tournament to begin.

Merlin surprised even himself with his fighting abilities. He countered every attack, sometimes using non-traditional ways to fight, but everyone was having too much fun watching to notice. His grin grew wider and wider as he went through the ranks of men. How could he have ever thought that fighting was terrible? He finally understood what Arthur saw in it.

But he couldn't allow himself to stray too far from the task. He would beat Arthur, and then would forever retire from the fighting business. It wasn't his destiny to fight with sword in hand, but it was to use magic to help repair the torn kingdom.

Or was it?

It was nearing the end of the day when the two champions, who were to fight it out tomorrow, were announced to the crowd. "Congratulations to Sir Emrys and Prince Arthur, our finalists in the tournament!" The two stood next to each other in front of the crowd, allowing everyone to see them. Arthur took off his helmet to smile at his people, and Merlin had a second of fear. _Are we expected to do that?_ He thought.

Almost in response to his question, Arthur looked at him. "You shouldn't be afraid to take off your helmet, Emrys. Or do you not want me to see the face of my opponent before tomorrow?" He said it in a taunting tone, daring "Sir Emrys" to reply. Merlin kept silent. There was plenty of time to let Arthur know who he really was – after he had been defeated.

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**Author's Note: **So…who do you think will win? Arthur, or Merlin? And yes, I already know…I've already written this whole story. Okay, not the whole story. But at least the next few chapters. I'm just curious to see what my readers think, and why. Don't forget to review!


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